As Twilight Falls(7)
Author: Amanda Ashley

Pauline Stefan nodded. She was a lovely woman, with clear blue eyes and long brown hair she wore tied in a ponytail. Like Nancy and Leslie, she also wore a bright red scarf loosely tied around her neck. “I know what you mean. They’re so much stronger than we are.”

“Wait a minute,” Kadie said. “Are you saying . . . ?” She shook her head. What she was thinking was impossible. They were just messing with her.

“You don’t know, do you?” Rosemary asked.

“Know what?” Kadie felt a sudden uneasiness as the women exchanged glances.

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell her,” Pauline said.

Chelsea leaned forward, her hands folded on the table. “She needs to know.”

“Know what?” Kadie repeated, her unease ratcheting up a notch.

“Morgan Creek has a lot in common with King’s book,” Nancy said, fiddling with the ends of her scarf.

Kadie shook her head. “I don’t understand. What are you trying to say?” She frowned. “Does it have anything to do with the reason why I can’t leave?”

“Everything,” Rosemary said succinctly.

Kadie’s gaze moved quickly around the table. The women were all watching her, some with curiosity, some with pity.

“Just tell me!” Kadie said. “What’s going on?”

“You’ve probably noticed the mansion up on the hill,” Shirley said quietly. “Blair House?”

Kadie nodded.

Still watching Kadie, all the women leaned forward, waiting for Shirley to go on.

“Morgan Creek is home to a coven of vampires. They all live in the house on the hill. Well, all but one.”

Kadie sat back. She would have laughed if all of the other women didn’t look so serious.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Shirley asked.

“Of course not. There’s no such thing as vampires. Salem’s Lot is fiction, not fact.”

Shirley looked at Leslie, Nancy, and Pauline. As if on cue, the three women removed their scarves.

Kadie frowned, wondering at their odd behavior. And then she saw the bites. They weren’t mosquito bites. Or spider bites. The imprint of teeth—fangs?—looked eerily like the bite marks usually seen in vampire movies. She sat back, feeling faint.

“Are you all right?” Nancy asked.

“I haven’t seen any vampires,” Kadie said. “At least, no one’s tried to bite me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well, of course I’m sure. I’d know if someone bit me, wouldn’t I?”

“Maybe,” Rosemary said. “If you were awake when it happened.”

“And if they didn’t seal the wound to make it disappear,” Pauline added.

Kadie’s mind flashed back to the six hours she had lost. Had Darrick Vaughan bitten her while she was unconscious and then sealed the wounds? “Why do your bite marks show?”

“The vampires don’t bother to seal them,” Chelsea remarked. “We all know what’s going on.”

“Then why hide the bites with scarves?” Kadie shook her head, unable to believe she was having this conversation.

“They aren’t to hide the marks,” Leslie explained. “They’re to let the vampires know that we’re not available.”

“Available?”

“They aren’t allowed to feed on any of us more than a couple of times a week,” Marti added as if that made everything all right. “A red scarf means you’re off-limits A black one means a vampire has claimed you.”

Kadie’s stomach churned. “Feed on you?”

“Of course. That’s why we’re here,” Leslie said. “Why they won’t let us go.”

She was dreaming, Kadie thought. It had to be a dream. This couldn’t possibly be real. There was no such thing as vampires. “I thought vampires couldn’t be out during the day?”

“They can’t.” Pauline lifted a hand to her neck. “We don’t always get home before dark.”

“Oh.”

“In a way, you’re lucky,” Shirley said, a note of envy in her voice. “Darrick has staked you out for himself.”

“Darrick?” Kadie choked out the word. “He’s a vampire?”

“Of course. Most of the men in town are vampires. Since Darrick has claimed you for himself, the others are forbidden to feed on you.”

“Until he tires of you,” Chelsea said.

“Just be glad Rylan Saintcrow didn’t set his sights on you,” Pauline said, a shiver in her voice.

“Who’s that?”

“He’s the head vampire. Very mysterious,” Marti said. “None of us have ever seen him. All we have are rumors.”

“What kind of rumors?” Kadie glanced around the table. Were they really having this discussion? She would have thought it was some kind of grisly joke, except they all looked so sincere.

“It’s said that when he picks a woman, she’s never seen or heard from again,” Shirley said, her voice a whisper.

“You mean . . . ?”

“No one knows for sure if he kills them,” Chelsea said. “But what other explanation is there?”

Kadie shrugged. “Do you know any of the women who disappeared?”

“Well, no,” Rosemary said as if she hated to admit it. “Saintcrow hasn’t been seen in town since I’ve been here.”

“So, it’s all just speculation,” Kadie said.

“Well, the rumor must have come from somewhere,” Pauline remarked. “But I wouldn’t worry about Saintcrow, since you belong to Vaughan now. I wish he’d picked me. Vampire or not, I think he’s hot.”

Kadie shook her head, unable to believe her ears. Hot or not, she didn’t want anything to do with him. Or this place. She pushed away from the table as panic washed through her. She had to get out of here. Now. Before it was too late.

Heedless of the calls of the other women, Kadie fled the library and raced for home.

Inside, she bolted the door, then stood there, her heart pounding in her ears. Darrick Vaughan was a vampire. All the women she had met were there for one reason—to feed the vampires.

How many vampires lived in Morgan Creek? No, that wasn’t right. Vampires weren’t really alive.

Had Vaughan fed on her without her knowing?

She gagged as revulsion swept through her.

She had to get out of this place!

Moving into the living room, she sank down on the sofa. If there was a way out of here, she would have found it by now. If there was a way, surely the other women would have left long ago.